Topic: Millefiori Paperweight

[firepop]

Hi,

  I was wondering if anyone could please tell me if this is an older paperweight or a newer one.
I just picked it up at a local antique mall yesterday since it was 50% off. 
 
  It's pretty heavy, has a 4" diameter, and the bottom still has what looks like the sticky part of the original paper tag, but I will remove it
if you need to see a 'cleaner' picture.  Thanks for any help you can give me~

[w8happiness]

Hi,
my feelings goe toward Murano, and the era sometime between post WW II and 1960;
a couple of canes (cross, cellulars) are characteristic to this maker, although he is not yet defined.
Aureliano Toso was an active firm at this time, among others. They kept changing names
and fusioned or dissolved very quickly, which makes a search still more tricky!
Alan shows something similar in his "Murano project"; http://www.pwts.co.uk/pages/Murano%20Unknown.htm
please compare picture 3,4,6 as example.
More of those canes are found as tops of the partly hollow "crown" weights, or above spatter
or aventurine cushions.
Let's hear what the Murano specialists will say!

kind regards, E.

[firepop]

Thank you very much for the information, EJM.    Appreciated~

I did find one listed on eBay (US) for $6,000 on sale now for $1,500!  I thought it was probably too good to be true
that my first paperweight purchase could be worth that much.   

And today I just found another very similar one listed there, starting bid at $200.00, and the interesting thing
is that it has a paper tag on it, "Cristalleria Murano d'arte."

So it seems it probably is Murano, anyway.

Now that I have found this gorgeous weight, I can easily see how addicting it could become
to want to buy more and more and more and more...LOL!!!  Just from the amount of researching
I've done these past two days, I gotta say, Wow....these art glass paperweights are simply beautiful.

Thanks again~

 

[Lustrousstone]

Looking at items with the Cristalleria Murano d'arte label I am not convinced they are Murano - China looks a better bet

[KevinH]

Hi firepop, welcome to the Board.

I agree with Christine's thoughts.

Anything with "Cristalleria ... Murano ... d'arte" on a label should be checked out closely. Although "Cristalleria Murano" entered into a search engine may provide links to true Murano companies / products, anything with the "d'arte" wording is more likely to be Chinese, sold through an import / export company and often with a "design or collection name" such as "Ann Primrose" included in a label or paper certificate. See eBay for many examples of "Ann Primrose" items.

An interesting point about firepop's weight is that some of the canes have a form of "honeycomb" pattern to the centre, which is broadly (but not precisely), similar to genuine Murano canes from the 60s / 70s or earlier. I think the same may apply to the "propeller" pattern in other canes.

The "Murano ... Cristalleria ... d'arte ... collection" items are modern and imported in bulk. They are bought at source very cheaply and retail at very affordable prices. Some of the the latest pieces are of good quality and attractive, but they should not be expensive to buy.